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SUMMARY:Book Club: All the Young Men by Ruth Coker Burks
DESCRIPTION:All The Young Men\, a gripping and triumphant tale of human 
 compassion\, is the true story of Ruth Coker Burks\, a young single mother 
 in Hot Springs\, Arkansas\, who finds herself driven to the forefront of 
 the AIDS crisis\, and becoming a pivotal activist in America’s fight 
 against AIDS.\n\nIn 1986\, 26-year old Ruth visits a friend at the hospital 
 when she notices that the door to one of the hospital rooms is painted red. 
 She witnesses nurses drawing straws to see who would tend to the patient 
 inside\, all of them reluctant to enter the room. Out of impulse\, Ruth 
 herself enters the quarantined space and immediately begins to care for the 
 young man who cries for his mother in the last moments of his life. Before 
 she can even process what she’s done\, word spreads in the community that 
 Ruth is the only person willing to help these young men afflicted by AIDS\, 
 and is called upon to nurse them. As she forges deep friendships with the 
 men she helps\, she works tirelessly to find them housing and jobs\, even 
 searching for funeral homes willing to take their bodies – often in the 
 middle of the night. She cooks meals for tens of people out of discarded 
 food found in the dumpsters behind supermarkets\, stores rare medications 
 for her most urgent patients\, teaches sex-ed to drag queens after hours at 
 secret bars\, and becomes a beacon of hope to an otherwise spurned group of 
 ailing gay men on the fringes of a deeply conservative state.\n\nThroughout 
 the years\, Ruth defies local pastors and nurses to help the men she cares 
 for: Paul and Billy\, Angel\, Chip\, Todd and Luke. Emboldened by the 
 weight of their collective pain\, she fervently advocates for their safety 
 and visibility\, ultimately advising Governor Bill Clinton on the national 
 HIV-AIDS crisis.\n\nThis deeply moving and elegiac memoir honors the 
 extraordinary life of Ruth Coker Burks and the beloved men who fought 
 valiantly for their lives with AIDS during a most hostile and misinformed 
 time in America.
LOCATION:West Caldwell - New Book Area
ORGANIZER;CN="West Caldwell Public Library":MAILTO:programs@westcaldwell.bccls.org
CATEGORIES:
CONTACT;CN="West Caldwell Public Library":MAILTO:programs@westcaldwell.bccls.org
STATUS:CONFIRMED
UID:LibCal-10876283
URL:https://bccls.libcal.com/event/10876283
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